I have some questions about the various strat models offered by Bacchus. I'm mostly looking at the BST-54/62 and the Gplayer/Gstudio models.

Is the only difference between the BST-54 and 62 that the 54 is maple neck and 62 is rosewood?

I'm more confused about the difference between the BST-54/62 and the Gplayer/Gstudio. I've looked at http://bacchusdo.com and some obvious differences are that neck radius is different and the pickups are different. I don't understand what 210R vs 280R means though. Does that mean the GPlayer neck (with 280R) is flatter? And can anyone tell me anything about the different pickups?

One thing I found strange was that on http://bacchusdo.com, the GPlayer/GStudio are more expensive than the BST-54/62 yet it's the opposite on ebay (at least here in America). Does anyone know why? Is the BST more popular?

Lastly, are there any overseas retailers that would sell one of these to me (I live in the United States)? or is ebay my only option?

Are you talking about the current Bacchus Handmade Series of the BST which has a traditional shaped Strat body and the new style head stock shape?

Yeah 280 mm radius is flatter than 210 mm, but there's not that much in it for playing purposes depending on fret size - my Duke is 280 but my Strat is 210 and I don't really notice the difference (similar size frets on both).

This might make more sense to you (being American) - 210 is 8.25 inches, so the radius is slightly flatter than the Fender Vintage radius of 7.25 inches. The size of frets make a big difference as well, and for me, the combination of the Fender Vintage radius and small frets is not what I like. I'm fine with the 210 radius on my Strat but it has bigger frets than vintage style, so that's part of the overall effect._________________Totally biased towards Japanese made guitars.

I bought a G Player about 6 months ago, from Hishashi on ebay. I believe he has a physical shop in Japan too but he's excellent to deal with. If you send him a message he'll answer any queries you have. I've also bought from Guitarjapan - http://www.guitarjapan.com/bacchus/bacchus_guitars.html - who also ship internationally.

The neck on the G Player has a flatter fretboard than a AmSe Fender and the neck is more of a U shape than the current Fender C shape, very comfortable though. The electronics are different to a standard strat, all three pickups are routed to one tone control under the volume knob, the third knob is a serial blend - ie you can blend the middle pickup in with the neck or bridge selected on the five way, but in serial rather than parallel as the switch does, it's a very different but very useable sound.

Good suggestion from the Doctor - Hisashi is tops, pretty much half the people on this board have bought something from him. He's probably the best for Bacchus as well, and he currently has a few of the newer BSTs up on his ebay listings.

Hisashi refers to these newer ones as ST-62 etc, so I guess if you are talking about BST-62 for example, you mean the Vintage Series exact clone guitars. If that's what you're after, second hand is the only way unless you do a custom order from Bacchus._________________Totally biased towards Japanese made guitars.

Is there much difference between the newer BST and the older BST models? other than the headstock?

Diodibuh, would you say that the BST-54 has more of a "U" neck profile and the BST-62 has more of a "C", which is thinner? The width of the neck across the frets seems to look the same to me (just by looking at pictures).

I prefer my guitar neck to be more of a "C" shape so I guess that would lead me to the BST-62 over the BST-54 and G-Player then. I think I'd prefer a maple neck but oh well.

I just noticed there is also a BST-57C guitar, does anyone know how that differs from the BST-54 and 62?

Is there much difference between the newer BST and the older BST models? other than the headstock?

Newer ones seem to be called ST-** (?) instead of BST-** and I don't think there's much difference because the same idea of copying Fender but better is used for both of them. There's also not many years between the Vintage Series ending 2005/06 and this newer series starting, so it's not a case of the Vintage Series having better wood - same stocks would be used, made by the same craftsmen etc.

drewman68 wrote:

I just noticed there is also a BST-57C guitar, does anyone know how that differs from the BST-54 and 62?

The "C" in BST-57C signifies the "Craft" Series from Bacchus. These are still MIJ to high standards, and the only difference that I've been able to find out for sure is that they have poly finishes instead of lacquer. They also seem to have the same Yuta pickups, CTS pots and Switchcraft selector. There could be a difference in the trem used - Handmade Series use a steel block Gotoh trem, Craft Series may use a cheaper one without a steel block?

Also, there's a seller on ebay who is selling a few Craft Series Strats at similar prices to what Hisashi is asking for his Handmade Series STs, so don't pay that price. Hisashi will be able to get you a Craft Series guitar cheaper than that guy I think. Anyway the prices for the Craft series on Bacchusdo.com are cheaper as well.

A Vintage Series BST-54V or 57V, not sure which, but it has a very late serial number for a Vintage Series, so it may have been a shop order build - happens a lot in Japan.

Also I'm not seeing any of the ST-** Handmades that Hisashi is selling, on either the Kurosawgakki or Bacchusdo websites. I've checked deviser.co.jp and there are no STs listed there so those ones Hisashi has are not production models it seems (or they're discontinued models), he may have had some made for his shop, and there's a couple left for ebay. This would appear to mean that the G-Player/G-Studio/Empire guitars are the official Bacchus Strats in the Handmade range at the moment. But I've definitely seen those ST type Handmade Strats for sale second hand on Yahoo before, not common though.

Sorry about raising even more questions, but hopefully others will chime in with better info, Hisashi may even come in to straighten us out, he is a member here. _________________Totally biased towards Japanese made guitars.

One thing I found strange was that on http://bacchusdo.com, the GPlayer/GStudio are more expensive than the BST-54/62 yet it's the opposite on ebay (at least here in America). Does anyone know why? Is the BST more popular?

My understanding is that the G-Player and G-Studio are part of the Handmade range - these are manufactured in limited low volumes by a craftsman. The Craft series is a higher volume production range where a manufacturing team is supervised by a craftsman. So G-Studio and G-Player are like "custom shop" and should be more expensive for the "normal" range of guitars.

I personally don't think there's that much difference in quality between the Craft Series and the Handmade Series, but they can be summarised as follows:

-Craft has poly finish but Handmade has lacquer
-Handmade uses Gotoh GE108 steel block trem or similar quality, Craft unknown
-Handmade would get the better woods (?)
-Craft is made by skilled workers under luthier supervision, Handmade is made by the top guys (?)

In practice, ie playing with a loud amp and a few effects, you might not notice any difference between the Craft and Handmade. Then again I'd like to think there would be a difference, because I have 3 Handmade guitars!
(*well one is a vintage series*)

I should also add that the Bacchus dealer out here in Australia said the Craft Series were really good. Now, I know they would say that, but I don't have any reason to doubt what they say.

They will ship to you, and I think in USD it's about $500 - looks in good condition but has a rosewood board. If you email them using the Inquire/Buy button they will give you a report on the condition._________________Totally biased towards Japanese made guitars.